The Costs of Bring Your Own Device

Everything is going mobile. You’ve got mobile devices. Your kid has a mobile device. Before you know it, your dog will have a mobile device.

Slowly but surely this growing trend of mobility is bleeding into our workplaces in the form of Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policies.

These policies enable workers to use their own devices such as tablets, laptops and smartphones to carry out their tasks. In theory, it provides your employees with an incredible amount of flexibility and versatility. This in turn promotes productivity, cuts costs and expands your market share.

However, for your IT department, implementing BYOD is a migraine waiting to happen. The sheer amount of liability that one of these policies contain is enough to make anyone’s head spin. From the fear of security breaches to having to scale your IT operations to support all of these devices, it’s no wonder why many organizations are still skeptical about BYOD.

If you’re on the fence, unsure about whether or not you have the resources to manage this new technological trend, it’s time to weigh the costs and benefits. There is a fine line between bringing your own device and bringing about your own demise. By answering these simple questions, you can determine if your organization is ready for BYOD.

Can your support staff handle it?

If your IT team is already running on fumes, chances are they won’t be able to handle monitoring and supporting your employee’s individual devices. Supporting the computers at their desk is one thing, but BYOD increases the amount of devices by a factor of two or three, especially if employee’s want to use both smartphones and laptops. Sure, you cut costs by needing fewer desktops and phones, but will it end up costing more when you have to hire a bigger IT staff for support?

Can you comply with data security regulations?

In the healthcare and finance industries, much of the data collected by these organizations are sensitive and personal information protected by law. Unfortunately, BYOD creates various entry points for people who intend to steal this information. If one of these devices are compromised, not only will you incur the costs of losing data, compromising your company’s integrity, but also the legal costs that come with it. An organization that handles sensitive information on a daily basis needs to tread very carefully if they wish to enact a BYOD policy.

However, field service companies that don’t handle a lot of sensitive information can greatly benefit from BYOD, as it shifts costs from the company to the user, without the fear of complying with data security regulations.

How will BYOD improve your specific business?

It can be hard to judge the overall benefits of BYOD because it affects each organization differently. A company that relies heavily on technology or has a lot of tech-savvy employees will find that BYOD increases employee morale, while at the same time cuts the costs of updating devices. Technology is evolving faster and faster, so if you rely on having the most up to date tech, shifting the costs from the company to the employee will prove to be very beneficial for your business. The more tech savvy your employees are, the more comfortable they will be using their own device for work. This also improves morale because they can work virtually anywhere with internet access. Having this kind of mobility in your office will enhance your employee’s ability working in the field and also attract the best and brightest potential candidates.

By now, you should be able to tell if you can handle BYOD or if enacting this kind of policy works for your business. BYOD is not for everyone and there is a thin line between it helping or hurting your company. If you can handle the implicit costs and support with ease, you may find that jumping on this new tech trend improves the way you conduct business.